For Teachers

Diversity in MG Lit #17 July 2020 Historical Fiction and Non-fiction

By on July 15, 2020   /   Articles, Book Lists, Diversity, Fiction, For Librarians, For Teachers, MUF Contributor Books, Nonfiction  
Historical fiction was one of my favorite genres as a MG reader and it’s one of my favorite to write now. Here is a collection of new and recent historical books. In these turbulent times I’m finding comfort in seeing the many difficult things humanity has overcome in the past.
What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion & Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger, Annik Press, 2019 This is non-fiction at its finest. Each chapter could be extended into an entire book but the authors have kept it concise and vivid with clear explanations, photographs of artifacts, frequent sidebars and maps. The collected stories of indigenous resistance to colonization and oppression is clearly and fairly portrayed. Their past and ongoing efforts at renewal and repair are inspiring. This should be required reading for every history teacher and will find a welcome place in the hearts of many history-loving students. Science teachers will also appreciate the care taken in describing how archeologist work to give evidence of historic events. This is the best non-fiction book I’ve read in a very long time!
Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang art by Gurihiru Here’s a rarity, a graphic novel within the realm of historical fiction. Based on a radio show from 1946, it portrays Superman standing up for a Chinese American family who has moved out of Chinatown and into a Metropolis neighborhood. It has all the action and derring do you’d expect from a comic book but it also shows Superman coming to terms with his own status as an alien. Extensive back matter chronicles the history of the KKK, the role of comics in American culture and the treatment of Asian Americans during and after WWII. The Klan is often portrayed as operating only in the south and fueled solely by racial hatred. I appreciated the setting on the west coast where white supremecist organizations have a long history. I also appreciated it when the leader of the racist organization in the story is revealed to be more interested in milking his gullible membership for money than anything—an aspect of white supremicist’s groups that is often overlooked.
Never Caught, the story of Ona Judge, George & Martha Washington’s courageous slave who dared to run away by Erica Armstrong Dunbar & Kathleen Van Cleve, Aladdin, 2019.
This is the young readers edition of the story of a slave in the George & Martha Washington household who escaped successfully and lived out her days in freedom. This is a balanced story that deals with the Washingtons as slave owners clearly without dwelling over much on violence or degradation. For example, for part of her life Ona was Martha Washington’s favorite slave and so had a room adjoining the Washington’s bedroom. The text says only that it was common for female slaves to be assaulted by their owners, without elaborating. This careful approach gives the reader the option to stop reading and ask for more context or move past the information that might be too overwhelming. There are primary source documents, a timeline, and extensive source notes.
Tooting my own horn here, like the above Never Caught, my title Last of the Name, is a finalist for the 2020 New York Historical Society History Book Prize. If you are a fan of historical fiction set in the US, this is a great place to look for solid titles year after year.
Last of the Name is about Danny and Kathleen, young orphaned Irish immigrants during the American Civil War. It encompasses the events of the Civil War Draft Riots, the most violent race riots in US history and a topic seldom addressed in either fiction or non-fiction. It also touches on the beginnings of vaudeville and the power of traditional ethnic music and dance to give an immigrant community strength and help them find each other in new surroundings.
I confess that I never wanted to be a writer when I was growing up but a career as a circus flyer held great appeal. Orphan Eleven by Jennifer Choldenko is the book my 11 year old self would have loved. It follows the adventures of four orphans who escape the worryingly named Home for Friendless Children to find work and community in a traveling tent circus. It features a character who is an elective mute and takes place in 1939.
Saving Savanah by Tanya Bolden takes a look at the turbulent year immediately after the First World War through the eyes of a young woman from the African American upper class.The story touches on class conflict within the African American community, womens’ suffrage, and the ravages of Jim Crow laws and the influenza epidemic. Eye-opening reading for older MG readers.
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park travels the same time and territory as the well-known Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This story follows Hanna Edmonds a Chinese American 15 year old who moves east from California with her widowed father to a small town in South Dakota. There she strives against prejudice to complete her schooling and open a dressmaking shop with her father. Period detail and a middle grade sensibility make this a perfect choice for 9-14 year old readers.
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Maps

By on July 13, 2020   /   Articles, For Kids, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Homeschool Resource, Writing  

When I was a wee lad (5’ 11”, 210 lb.), back in my junior year of high school, we took one of those classic tests designed to magically deduce one’s most likely path to career and life success. My 55-year-old self can’t recall a single question from the test now. In fact, most of the memory from this event consists of filling in the ovals (completely) on the answer sheet (in #2 pencil) and the resultant career of choice subsequently handed down by the gods of career aptitude.

First, I do recall that, as a kid who liked to draw, I took great pride in filling out my answer sheet ovals. They were always impeccable, even if the answers were dead wrong. Second, in the haze of time passed, I recall meeting with my guidance counselor to go over my now clarified path to a well-lived life. The result?

Cartographer.

Yes, that is what the computer algorithm decided my career should be. A quick check of the dictionary told me I should be a maker of maps. The gods of career aptitude must have a sense of humor, right?

When I broke the cartographer news to the family at the dinner table that night, my brothers and sister rolled to the kitchen floor in uncontrollable laughter. My ever-supportive mother gave an enthusiastic “How nice.”, while my civil engineer dad responded,  “A mapmaker? Hmmm…that’s different. So how are you going to make a living then?”

Even though I love maps, I did not become a cartographer. My collection of National Geographic maps handed down from my dad is one of my favorite treasures. Books with maps, both fiction, and nonfiction, line my bookshelves. Eventually, I became a molecular microbiologist, a writer, and a sports coach, not a cartographer. For years, I’ve always wondered about that career aptitude test and how it could have been so wrong.

A few years ago, though, I realized the computer wasn’t wrong at all. The testing algorithm rocked it. Maps are an integral part of everything I am and do. From mapping molecular processes in infectious diseases to mapping stories and illustrations to mapping out sports practices and gameplans. Turns out, I’m a cartographer through and through.

Maps, at their very core function, are tools to give us direction. A map can be a tool to help a hiker get from the parking lot to the mountain vista and safely back to the parking lot. Maps can help a writer build the foundation of the story they want to tell. They can also be tools to help worldbuilding (think J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth) or be used as a plot device (think HP’s Marauder’s Map).

In short, don’t short the value of maps in any aspect of your life. They are especially valuable tools to have in your writing toolbox to help turn those story ideas wandering aimlessly in the desert into an actual fully-fleshed oasis of stories. 

Below are some of my favorite maps I use in my life as a scientist, a writer, and a coach.

Science Maps

Writing Maps

Sports Coaching Maps

  • Football scouting and game planning – A coach scouts the opponent by mapping out what the opponent has done previously. It takes a lot of work and most colleges and professional organizations dedicate many manhours toward this endeavor.
  • Baseball spray chart maps – I love to keep baseball hitter spray charts. First, like scoring a game, it keeps one mentally sharp during the course of a baseball game. Second, it allows a coach the data to better position his defenders in the field. 

Your MUF July 2020 Aptitude Test questions are below. Please use a #2 pencil and fill out any oval shapes or other doodles completely. The gods of middle grade thank you.

  1. What are your favorite middle grade books which contain maps? 
  2. What are some middle grade books you wish would have had maps?
  3. How do you use maps as tools in your own life? 
  4. How do you use maps as a writer or a reader?

Have a great summer! No matter how crazy 2020 is going for you, here’s hoping you have a reliable map to help navigate your way to the other side.

Stay safe. Be kind. Make good things.

 

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EXTINCT! Facts & Fiction for Middle-Grade Readers

By on July 10, 2020   /   Book Lists, Fiction, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, Nonfiction  

Many kids in this age group can rattle off more dinosaur names and the details about more species than most other twelve people put together. And they have learned much of this on their own, through eager reading! What could be more exciting during this pandemic, when schools are closed and normal summer activities are limited, than for young readers to find books that hold their avid interest for hours and days?

More books on the ever-hot topic of dinosaurs come out every year. I’ve been writing a book about extinct American animals and have been looking at just about everything available for middle-grade readers on the subject. I recommend the following page-turners:

Stephen Brusatte is a leading young paleontologist, but also an engaging author of books for children and adults. In his Day of the Dinosaurs: Step Into a Spectacular Prehistoric World (Wide-Eyed Editions, 2016), readers witness over 100 prehistoric creatures of the land, sea and air through 2nd-person narrative. Older middle graders might also enjoy his best-selling adult book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (William Morrow, 2019)

Kelroy Pim and Jack Horner both fell in love with dinosaurs as kids and now have become leading scientists in the field. In their book, Dinosaurs—The Grand Tour: Everything Worth Knowing About Dinosaurs from Aardonyx to Zuniceratops (The Experiment, 2nd Ed., 2019), readers will find many of the mind-changing latest discoveries. The book also includes Jack Horner’s working field notes and suggestions for how and where readers might go to make their own prehistoric finds.

Extraordinary animals lived and went extinct millions of years before and after those great dinosaur beasts. This may be a whole new area for dino-fans to explore. Fortunately there are a number of wonderful books to help them get a sense of our vast natural history. One is Matt Sewall’s Forgotten Beasts: Amazing Creatures That Once Roamed the Earth ( Pavilion Children’s , 2019). The well-known and little-known creatures featured in this stunningly illustrated book span half a billion years, ending with the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger in the 1930s.

In their well-researched, humorous, and visually compelling book, Prehistoric Ancestors of Modern Animals: If Extinct Beasts Came to Life, (Hungry Tomato, 2017), Mathew Rake and Simon Mendez use digital photography to show what modern animals might be like if they still had the attributes of their prehistoric ancestors. See also their Prehistoric Giants, Prehistoric Sea Beasts, and Prehistoric Predators, all published in 2017.

 For comprehensive, visually appealing reference books for this age group, you can’t miss with anything published by the Smithsonian or by DK Eyewitness books. Some examples: William Lindsay, Prehistoric Life: Discover the Origins of Life on Earth from the First Bacteria to the Coming of Humans (DK Eyewitness Books, Reprint ed., 2012). Or Paul Taylor, A History of Life in 100 Fossils (Smithsonian Books, 2014).

Would readers like to dig up some fossils of their own? Thousands of prehistoric animal and plant remains lie underfoot waiting to be found all over this country (except maybe in Rhode Island where, because of glaciation, fossil hunters may only come up with a trilobite or two and some Carboniferous cockroaches).  Amateur fossil hunters, (including children!),  have made many scientifically important finds

Mathew Rake and Dan R. Lynch’s Fossils for Kids: Finding, Identifying and Collecting (Adventure Publications, 2020) covers all those topics, but also explains how to collect responsibly so that you preserve the scientific record. Albert Dickas‘s 101 American Fossil Sites You’ve Gotta See (Mountain Press Publishing, 2018) shows state-by-state where to see prehistoric animals on display, or observe expert digs in progress, or dig on your own.

Would they like to read fiction about fossils? Try Monica

Kulling’s Mary Anning’s Curiosity (Groundwood Books, 2017), a fictionalized account of the childhood of the 19th century shell-collector who revolutionized paleontology 
with her discoveries. Or read Roger Reid’s Time: A Jason Caldwell Mystery (NewSouth Books, 2011) set in a world-famous Paleozoic Footprint site in northern Alabama.

At a moment when there is much uncertainty in the present and about the future, it may be refreshing for readers to focus on the long time of Earth’s natural past. At the very least, they can have fun reading about some fascinating ages and creatures. Please pass this list of books along to any middle-graders you know. There are many more titles that I could have included, but they will find them. I wish there were a reading equivalent of “Bon appétit!”

 

 

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